Earlier today (4 September), Pippa spoke at the Defender Burghley Horse Trials as part of a talk to promote the British Eventing Training Foundation; a new initiative to raise £100,000 to help secure the future of British Eventing by transforming the training and development of eventing officials.
During the talk, Pippa reminisced over some of the highs – and lows – she has experienced while competing at Burghley.
“I have some very special memories from this event,” says Pippa. “Winning the Rolex Grand Slam of Eventing with Primmores Pride in 2003 was obviously life-changing.
“One of my least favourite memories from here, though, was over 30 years ago when my little blue roan horse, Sir Barnaby, misread the Centaur’s Leap as it was known then – it’s now called the Cottesmore Leap – and jumped into the ditch.
“We were both fine, but when I was asked to do the Horse & Hound cross-country preview here a few weeks ago, that was the first time I’ve walked up to that fence since then, because it’s the biggest ditch in the world and whenever I’ve been competing here, I’ve always kept at a distance from it while walking the course.”
Pippa also cites her win here with MGH Grafton Street (Squirrel) as a special memory.
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“Squirrel should never have won here, but I was drawn 77 and ‘I thought I’m going to bloody win this’, as my lucky number is seven,” explains Pippa. “At every big event, if my competitor number doesn’t contain the number seven, I’ll write ‘77’ on my cross-country number. Even Tilly in my children’s books always wears the number 77.”
Speaking of this year’s course at Burghley, Pippa says that the switch in direction will make things interesting.
“It’s a very different competition here to Badminton because of the terrain and this is the first time since 2017 that the course has run in this direction. It obviously won’t affect first-timers here, but I think for others, it will impact them psychologically – they are used to running home after the Cottesmore Leap, whereas this year, they will still have the bulk of the course to tackle.
“They will have to be very aware of reading the terrain and being aware of how their horses feel, because with the change of direction, some might not know where to give their horses a breather.”
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Former web features editor, point-to-point editor and digital racing editor
Gemma is an experienced journalist, who was a member of H&H staff from 2014 to September 2025. She is passionate about all equestrian sports, including racing and point-to-pointing. She has enjoyed riding out for top trainers Nicky Henderson and Charlie Appleby and took part in a charity Flat race at Epsom in August 2018. Gemma’s has reported from numerous five-star events around Britain and Europe, as well as European championships.
